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RARE BOOK COLLECTOR AND TURFMAN George 1 Smith who died suddenly in Xew York recently and who at one time owned the Brighton Stable and the star colt Purchase was a scholarly man and a great authority on rare editions of bouks Mr Smith was sitting at his desk talking to AV Lanier AVashington from whom he had purchased a valuable collection recently when he suddenly gasped and fell to tiie floor lie was dead before physicians could reach him Earlier in the day Mr Smith had been in conference with Henry E Huntington a millionaire collector and returned to the book store after luncheon He probably paid higher prices for rare editions than any other book dealer in the world Ho recently came into geater prominence as the purchaser of the original copy of Shakespeares Venus and Adonis Mr Smith bought this valuable volume in Ixjudon for S7000 He had for several years been a leading bidder at important sales In sev ¬ eral cases he bought entire libraries sometimes for hijiiself but more often for collectors Only re ¬ cently he represented Henry E Huiitiiigton iu the purchase of the Britwcll Court library iu London which included the Venus and Adonis
